Abstract
Despite ever-growing interest in the “social brain” and the search for the neural underpinnings of social cognition, we are yet to fully understand the basic neurocognitive mechanisms underlying complex social behaviors. One such candidate mechanism is the control of neural representations of the self and of other people (Brass et al., 2009; Spengler et al., 2009a), and it is likely that “common” disorders of social cognition such as autism and schizophrenia involve atypical modulation of self and other representations (Cook and Bird, 2012; Ferri et al., 2012). This opinion piece will first consider self-other control as a possible low-level neurocognitive mechanism for social functioning across many domains of social cognition. Neuroscientific evidence will be drawn upon and the potential for a better understanding and identification of neuropsychological markers for atypical social cognitive development, discussed.
Highlights
Despite ever-growing interest in the “social brain” and the search for the neural underpinnings of social cognition, we are yet to fully understand the basic neurocognitive mechanisms underlying complex social behaviors
A CANDIDATE MECHANISM Humans are uniquely social beings and identifying commonalities in the mechanisms recruited across various domains of social cognition is important, providing an understanding of typical social cognitive function and what happens when this goes wrong
Differing requirements to inhibit or enhance representation of the self or the other for successful social interaction highlights the crucial role played by the ability to control or switch between neural representations attributed to the self and to other people, hereafter referred to as “self-other control” (Decety and Sommerville, 2003; Brass and Heyes, 2005; Spengler et al, 2009a)
Summary
Despite ever-growing interest in the “social brain” and the search for the neural underpinnings of social cognition, we are yet to fully understand the basic neurocognitive mechanisms underlying complex social behaviors. A candidate process which may be recruited across a range of socio-cognitive tasks is the ability to hold in mind and manage neural representations of both the self and of other people.
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